Egypt's Military Junta Starts Handing Out Jail Sentences, And Activists Are Freaking Out

The head of the Armed Forces Council, Field Marshall Mohamed Hussein Tantawy

Photo: ap

Egypt’s military junta is starting to show signs of a repressive regime (via FDL).Yesterday a 33 year old activist, Amr Abdallah Elbihiry, was sentenced to five years in prison for assaulting a public official and breaking curfew.

Amnesty and other groups say Elbihiry was protesting peacefully and have called for his release.

Dr Laila Mustafa Soueif, a lecturer at Cairo University was present at the sit-in and witnessed first hand the clashes and the initial arrest of Elbihiry.

“I was in the sit-in on Kasr el Aini street, when it was dispersed forcibly by police and military elements. As we were leaving, military elements took Amr Abdallah ElBihiry.

“They [military police] ruthlessly beat him up, my friends and I refused to leave without Amr. A high ranking officer calmed us down, and ordered a lower rank officer to release Amr, his face was severely injured. We all walked away together. But after we parted, we later found out that Amr and five others were arrested.

“Everyone was later released except Amr, he was accused of possessing a pistol. I can affirm that Amr had no weapon in his possession , otherwise military officials would not have released him in the first place,” she said.